Citation

Hempel IS, Buck NM, van Marle HJ. J. Child Sex. Abus. 2014; 23(8): 977-990.

Affiliation

a Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam , The Netherlands.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10538712.2014.960634

PMID

25255791

Abstract

There is little empirical knowledge about whether the interpretation process of child sex offenders is offense-supportive in nature and contributes to the offending process. Vignettes were developed to compare child sex offenders' and non-offenders' interpretations of child molestation incidents after ambiguous and non-ambiguous victim responses.

RESULTS showed that child sex offenders' (N = 60) interpretations did not differ from non-offenders' (N = 40) interpretations. Overall, the more ambiguous the child responses, the more child complicity and child benefit was seen. Our results indicate that offense-supportive interpretations are not unique to child sex offenders. The mechanisms that are responsible for whether or not to commit a sexual offense should be unraveled and treated, to prevent deviant processes to be activated.

Language: en